Review: Official Set - 2002 Bohrok Va

We already know the Bohrok, here’s their gang of faithful goons, the Bohrok Va. The Bohrok Va served as the messengers and scouts for the Bohrok swarms. Their small size certainly helps them sneak around, and they look like a great size matchup for a Matoran or Turaga.

Each set contains on average 28 pieces and has a recommended building age of 7+.

Packaging

The Bohrok Va come in boxes identical in size to the Turaga packaging. The art on the front of the boxes is fantastic, it creates a nice scenery that they come from a underground hive, and that they operate in the shadows. The back of the box also gives us a look at all 6 of the Bohrok Va variations, along with a sneak peak at the combination models.

Inside there is a bag of pieces along with the instructions.

The Build

The total build time for all 6 of the Bohrok Va was 11 minutes, which FLEW by. The build were very reminiscent of the Turaga builds, but the Bohrok Va simply improved on the design of the Turaga to include much better posable features. The head has much more movement, the arms include a technic axle/pin WITH FRICTION (Not having friction was a big issue for the Turaga). The waist is able to lean over and turn, there’s simply a lot to like here.

The play feature built into these models was a bit of a letdown though. The krana is supposed to be able to flip forward by flicking an arm down, but it doesn’t work well, and the krana often falls out of the little backpack on the Bohrok Va.

Speaking of the krana, all of the krana included with the Bohrok Va are different colors to the ones included with the Bohrok. I see this fitting into the story in a way that would show the Toa which of the Bohrok was lucky enough to have a Bohrok Va stunt on in and replace their missing krana.

Combination Model

The Bohrok Va Kaita (So original with the name…) is the combination model that you can build from the Bohrok Va sets. The instructions need to be looked up online, and for good reason. Plain and simple, the instructions are horrendous. They are quite challenging to follow, and build felt draining, almost like a chore due to the lack of direction. All instruction hate aside, the results look rather neat, and do a good job of making each model unique. The Bohrok Va Kaita are also able to hold multiple krana, just like the Bohrok Kaita.

The play functions do not change at all compared to the base models, the arms move and hold via friction pins and the krana sit in backpacks that can flip up. The legs are the only real limitation of these models, they really are just unable to tilt at the hips and don’t add any additional articulation. Most of the time the combination models upgrade the features of the base model, but in this case we actually are downgrading.

Review

There was a bit of a hit-and-miss with the base models and combination models for the Bohrok Va, but when it comes down to it these were some very enjoyable sets. The posable options are exceptional, and they introduce a new, smaller villain, that looks like a great fight for a Matoran or Turaga.

If you’re interested in these sets, you’re in luck when it comes to price. The Bohrok Va nowadays will generally retail around $6 for used condition and $15 for brand-new condition.

This may come as an underdog upset, but I’m going to give the Bohrok Va a slight edge over the Bohrok.

SCORE: 8.1/10

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